Author: Michael Glenn

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Michael Glenn Holds the Empty Teapot, 深川江戸資料館

Hatsumi Sensei told us about a very scary moment in his training with Takamatsu Sensei. One evening they were relaxing at Takamatsu Sensei’s house. Takamatsu was drinking sake. He poured himself another big glass and held it up. He said, “Let’s go train!” And he gulped down all of the sake, slamming down the empty glass on the table.

They went to the nearby jinja. It was late and cold, but the moon was shining down on the shrine. Takamatsu Sensei took out his sword and said, “This is where you live or die. You must grab my sword.”

Hatsumi Sensei told us in that moment his fear left him. Takamatsu came at him with the sword. He instinctively grabbed the blade. He told us that it was a cold night and his fingers didn’t work very well, so he couldn’t fully grasp the blade. He thinks that is what saved his hand from being cut.

Soke said this fact was testament to how good Takamatsu Sensei’s teaching was. This made me laugh because it sounds more like madness than teaching. But, teaching is not necessarily a rational process. And, that Friday night in the Bujinkan Honbu dojo, Hatsumi Sensei could see us struggling to understand this type of technique. He told us,

“There's nothing to do. Wrap him up. The 空き aki, emptiness or the hole is important. In Spain you say aqui, but aki can also be this kukan this emptiness. you connect to this nothingness without doing anything.”

Soke called this idea shinjutsu. Another way of writing aki is 明き. This is like a bright light that opens up to fill the empty space. You don't think about it, but it's there when you need it. You can feel this connection with this kind of space.

Hatsumi Sensei went on to tell us the secret to make this happen,

“You won’t see any waza or technique here. You have to become nothingness, make your body nothingness (体無いし tainaishi) and stay in that nothingness.  If you don’t have to do anything, don’t do anything. In the end it’s not a physical power that matters. It’s being transmitted through the space. It’s more of an energetic or spiritual thing. “

I bet that Hatsumi Sensei didn’t think about all of that under the cold moonlight so many years ago. Takamatsu’s teaching was an organic process that brought his student Hatsumi to this place of life or death naturally. The sword cut down, and in that moment when his fear left him, that's when he became nothing.… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Hatsumi Sensei TV interview last month. Photo by Michael Glenn

Right now in the Bujinkan, we are starting from zero. Hatsumi Sensei  says he has taught us everything. What will come next will emerge out of zero.

Sometimes there is this weird incongruity when training with Soke. He tosses me around the Bujinkan honbu effortlessly and I am almost 40 years younger than he is. His mind and wit are quicker than most people I know. But the fact is, he is an old man. He himself remarked that “I'm kind of stupid so I didn't realize I was getting older.”

Last month when I was in one of Hatsumi Sensei’s classes, my friend Silvio Herasme asked Soke how does he feel right now?  Hatsumi Sensei said that right now he feels very satisfied or content.

He continued to say that he felt happy that Takamatsu taught him and he could experience this life of budo. He was content to be surrounded by many friends who have been studying for 20-30 years or more. Then he mentioned how dangerous it is to be Soke.

One of these dangers is the onset of age. when we are young, we just train and don’t really think about what is next. Soke has grown old and IS thinking about what comes next. And even though Soke can knock me over easily and put me in great pain, he recognizes his age. He said,

“of course my physical body is deteriorating and getting weaker, but my spirit is unbalanced with the flesh.” 

Hatsumi Sensei says his memories of the years of training with Takamatsu are like images in a dream. When he looks at old photos and the 8mm film of himself with Takamatsu Sensei, he recognizes how bad he was.

Hatsumi Sensei described these days of training,

“Takamatsu Sensei wasn't very specific or hung up on form. He probably saw that I was just so bad at form and I couldn't do anything so he didn't care about the form. Maybe so I wouldn't feel bad.” 

Can you imagine being a young man like Soke was then? Just training hard and fumbling through what his teacher was trying to share. Then suddenly, Soke said,

“About a year before he died he said I'll pass everything onto you. I was kind of disappointed when he did that to be honest.”

This must have been a strange time. One day you are just a clumsy student, the next… you are in charge of the entire legacy. Today Hatsumi Sensei reflects on this time with humility when he describes his younger self,

“They say if you flatter a pig he'll jump up a tree, but then he'll fall out again. That's like me. I'm sort of like that.”

We all burst with laughter. The whole dojo was amused by this country adage. But this great humility was coming from our Soke!

During my whole trip last month Hatsumi Sensei was very reflective on the past 42 years. He said it has taken him 42 years to internalize what Takamatsu Sensei taught him. During those years, he said he has taught us everything that was taught to him.

There’s nothing left to show. No more to teach. We are at zero again.

This brings us to an odd kind of reassurance from Soke. He says that within zero there’s 意識 ishiki. This awareness or consciousness will guide us forward. He speculated that maybe this comes from kami.

Moving forward in the Bujinkan, we are going to continue with this zero feeling. The important thing will be how to internalize that. If you do it with clarity, then what comes next will be born from that. … Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Michael Glenn Joins Hands with 大鵬幸喜 Taihō Kōki at the Fukagawa Edo Museum

I made sure to grip my sword well. My opponent stood before me, almost daring me to come in. I knew that if I didn’t cut in the space of that breath, I would be too late.

I cut, and I was stunned in an instant. I stood helpless at the point of my opponent’s sword… my own blade was slammed to the floor like the earth was a giant magnet.

My “opponent” was Hatsumi Sensei. He laughed as he drove the tip of his sword into my body. This forced my back up against the wood paneled wall.

This flash is burned into my memory from earlier this month. Soke was demonstrating to me a principle of 無く力を合わせ Naku chikara o awase that he was teaching that night. Meeting my attack without power. This principle was a thread that ran through many of my classes this month in Japan.

For some background, one night at Senou Sensei’s dojo,  Senou used the terms 姿勢 shisei: attitude; posture; stance; approach; or carriage (of the body)... And 態勢 taisei: attitude; posture; preparedness; or readiness. This means you can't just do a kata. It all depends on the attack... or the shisei or taisei of the opponent.

In another class Hatsumi Sensei effortlessly threw a series of opponents around the dojo. Each student he called out to attack him was bigger than the last. He was purposely choosing bigger and bigger bodies. He did this to demonstrate the slight changes in technique he used for each person. Soke said,

"When you catch a large fish, you have to change. You have to play the fish."

But how does this happen? If you’ve ever hunted or fished, you know how important it is to harmonize with the movements and mindset of the prey. It’s almost as if you merge with them as you stalk them. Then the moment of the kill creates an incredible concurrence. An incongruous reverence for life appears when you also see your own death in that moment. The body of your prey is your body.

Right after Hatsumi Sensei “killed” me, he said 呼吸から愛人 kokyuu kara ai jin. This is the merging of the breath between two lovers. But Soke used his humorous analogy to suggest you match your movements or your breath according to the way your opponent breathes. You become one with him. Like with a lover.

This was strange to me because it was like he disappeared in front of my cut. By matching me, he became nothing. He met my attack with emptiness. Then my next impression was the sheer force that dropped my own sword to the ground. But it was not his force, it was the shattering of the breath. My own breath. My own life which he had taken in that instant.… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Below I share a preview of my Bujinkan video exploring the kata 片胸捕 kata mune dori using concepts from my training in Japan over the last couple of weeks.

Hatsumi Sensei has been very reflective. Part of this comes from his birthday. And part of it is due to the end of a 42 year cycle that he says began when Takamatsu Sensei passed away.

In the full video at rojodojo I share many of the stories Hatsumi Soke shared with us. Some of the details include:

• What the future holds for the Bujinkan;
• Hatsumi Sensei’s funny opinion about his 8mm footage with Takamatsu Sensei;
• How Soke feels about his age;
• The responsibility of our generation for Budo;
• Two profound lessons from the 天津鞴韜馗神之秘文 amatsu tatara kishin no hibun;
• A hidden meaning for 親切 shinsetsu;
• How does Senou Sensei consider 姿勢 shisei and 態勢 taisei in training?
• Hatsumi Sensei’s stories of lodging at Takamatsu Sensei’s house;
• Stories of the terrifying training that Soke did with Takamatsu Sensei;
• How Hatsumi Sensei survived a live blade attack from Takamatsu;
• How Takamatsu demonstrated deadly force to Hatsumi Sensei;
• Why Takamatsu didn’t really teach Hatsumi Sensei form;
• How “bad people” are dealt with in the Bujinkan;
• How to keep from being controlled by religion;
• One of the most important purposes for the dojo;
• My own experiences as uke for Hatsumi Sensei;
• Turning accidents into fortune;
• Cutting through truth;
• Don’t confuse Fudoshin with kamae;
• Using the eyes for evasion;
• Throwing the self away and finding what is hidden in zero;
• The importance of the “next one.”

Hatsumi Sensei said that he has taught us everything there is to teach in the Bujinkan over the last 42 years. But he added that we will be continuing from zero. Over the coming weeks, I will share more about these details from my experiences in Japan. But I made this video for rojodojo to get this information out quickly. You can enjoy the full length video and help support my teaching over at Rojodojo.com

… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Shibuya, photo by Michael Glenn

A few nights ago, Hatsumi Sensei was trying to give us clarity (澄明 choumei) when he changed the kanji in juppo sesshou to 清澄 seichou which means clear and serene. The idea is that when you have this kind of clarity, you cannot be harmed by any attack. And he has often told us that the Bujinkan can only be understood with a clear, pure heart.

But not many of us in the dojo were clear that day. I think some people may be confused about what Soke is doing with his current line of training. This is understandable, because it is really hard to keep up with Hatsumi Sensei's progression.

This will be the first of several articles about the training I am currently doing in Japan, to receive all of them, please subscribe here.

It's like that feeling when you see your train pull in to the station but you're on the wrong side of the tracks. You know you can run, through the gate, up a flight of stairs, across the overpass, down another flight of stairs… you might even make it before the hiss of the doors closing.

Then again, you might fumble with coins at the gate, your suica card might be tapped out, you might trip on the stairs, maybe you drop your hat, even then you have to swim through a flood of people going the other way as they get off the train.

That's how training feels right now. It's a sprint to catch a train leaving the station. Soke's budo is as high level as ever. It has always been a challenge to comprehend or physically connect to Soke's training. But now, his budo seems to be leaving the station.

Some people seem to think they know where this train is headed, but they are probably wrong. That is what is difficult as a student. We can't understand where Soke's budo is headed because I think Soke is along for the ride too.

From my perspective, Soke's current budo is not fixed, it is searching. He himself has made every effort to let us know about the coming changes in the Bujinkan and the world. He says that he has taught us everything in the Bujinkan, and now he is searching for the "next one."

I get the feeling he himself doesn't know what that is. How can anyone? He has been a shepherd for the schools he inherited, and for us, his students. But the next phase will be out of his hands.

But budo has survived centuries despite the people who practice it. Some people add to this wealth of knowledge and understanding. Other's seek to destroy it.

Yet it keeps going. And anyone with a pure heart can catch a ride. May your journey be clear and serene (清澄 seichou).… Read More